Dilip Cherian Blog

Cherian's Choice

The Crorepati Club The business landscape of Delhi has changed beyond measure in the heady buzz of the last 10 years. The emerging Delhi tycoon is bold, brassy and big. He, and unfortunately it’s still largely he, though the she’s too are beginning to emerge, could as easily be in any of the New Age businesses as in the old Metals and Materials trade. In the bad old days, Delhi never used to be counted as a big business city. It’s still rather conventional, among those not quite savvy, to believe that its just Bombay that’s buzzing big on business. It’s a story of aggressive growth and huge new opportunities. It’s also the emergence of the new North Indian industrialists, of those who have chosen to run global operations from the city. It’s not easy to recognize each of the genotypes. But look closely and you will find specific characteristics that you can learn how to spot. Listen carefully and you can remember verbal signals that tell you where they belong. It’s a little scientific, but it could always be rewarding. The stratospheric players in Delhi’s rarefied atmosphere of the rich the powerful and the successful is a world that’s worth exploring. Here’s an expert guide on the flora and fauna that inhabit the capital’s crorepati club. Car,shar crorepatis: They could live in Rajinder Nagar as easily as in Friends Colony. Business basis: They recognize that the North is actually the home of our obsession with cars. They manufacture them or make parts for them or merely sell them but what ever they do, it translates into serious money. What with the Golden Quadrilateral all set to expand India’s highway traffic, this is just the start of the good times baby. Their slogan: “Miles to go before we sleep” DCâ€™s choices: Sunil Munjal and Sanjay Kapur Nanotechnology and cyber nuts: they usually look like they have a seasonal pass to a jet lag, or own a second home in Los Angeles but most of them have studied in an IIT up North. They talk in hushed whispers, or sail through life in a silicon chip induced stupor. Their dress code: binary i.e. black and white and strangely the Delhi variety usually tend to be hairsuitely challenged. Their favorite exit line: “Can’t talk about it, I’ve just signed an NDA and due diligence is on.” DCâ€™s favourites: Gaurav Dalmia and Shiv Nadar, Hotel Shotel Tycoons: making rooms, blocking beds, or managing magnificent franchises. All this and more is the stock in trade of the gregarious Hostelry players of the capital. Whether it’s getting a property vacated brick-by-brick or winning bids for outright and often outrageous buyouts, these big boys know that the future is cash and carry. Arm candy: a spouse or a scion born with the capability of creating a luxurious atmosphere, with taste that may be a little suspect but is never questioned, because hey, the room retails at $1000 a night. DCâ€™s favourites: Sanjeev Nanda and Lalit Suri, Political-paydirt pashas: some of their silly brethren may have got caught in aftermath of the Volcker report, yet among them are they who still may play more boardroom cricket. Some are happy to just occupy large tracts of public land or the small fry simply have expensive cars they forget to pay duty on. Membership details: look for a recognizable surname, or spot that familiar face peeping and grinning out of page one pictures, for no obvious reason. You may know nothing more about them and their sources of wealth, but they don’t care, as long as their private bankers visit them with large suitcases. DCâ€™s nominees: Kuldeep Bishnoi and Rajiv Shukla Landed gentry: what Mark Twain said about land as a source of riches holds true for these Capital gentlemen, who have figured out long ago, without even reading Twain that “they stopped making it anymore”. But they haven’t stopped grabbing more and more of it, at higher and higher prices. Colonies condominiums and conversions; these are the secret ingredients to their vast riches. Hunting grounds: the NCR region that seems to appreciate in prices, by each giddy minute. Status symbol: women wearing large and obscene rocks, perhaps an unwitting throwback, to the origins of their riches. DCâ€™s suspects: Pranav Ansal and Siddharth Gupta Exporter Emirs: They made their money in countries ranging from Jordan to Spain, selling anything from garments [clearly the local rag trade has been the source of numerous superrich capitalists] to pipelines and plastics. Many of them currently prefer to maintain rarely revealed NRI status. Outing outrage: flashy weddings, each outwitting the other, is usually is one chosen device for exposure. Children marry incestuously, and any interlopers are treated contemptuously. Status symbol: getting themselves an honorary consulate status and having at least three ambassadors attend their dinner parties. DCâ€™s smart set: Karan Channa and Gaurav Uppal Mr. Five Percent: this is the uniquely capital obsession. Almost everybody in the A-list has attempted it at some point of time. The rules of the game: wait for your favorite Bakra, Uncle or father-in-law, to become a Mantri and then try and sell anything from mega projects to oil to diamonds and collect your percentage in a Swiss bank and share it, or at least pretend you have, with the boss. Style statement: extremely expensive watches on the wrist of your benefactor. DCâ€™s choices: Weâ€™re too smart to name any!! — Widely regarded as Indias â€œImage Guruâ€, Dilip Cherian is also a celebrity creator and a tycoon watcher. He currently parties on a 24/7 schedule that mixes cities and nixes bores.